Who has one? Who likes them? Are they accurate worth a darn? I was always curious about them, considered buying one once. The idea of a 30-06 autoloader appealed to me, especially the availability of ten round mags. After getting my M1, the practicality of it was nonexistent, but I'm still curious. When I was planning to get one, I had all sorts of designs for giving it a carry handle and AR-15 style pistol grip.
One fellow advised me that it's a deer rifle, not a blaster, and that it would wear out fast under rapid fire and frequent use. True, false?
Initially, the first 50 rounds produced jams every third round, so I went to work on it by bedding the action / stock / installing a LimbSaver Barrel De-Resonator / adjusting the trigger to 3 lbs., and dry-firing / working the action 1,000 times.
A major and very thorough cleaning of the action and chamber was performed. Did I say take your time and pay close attention to detail in cleaning the action / chamber / bolt?
Afterwards, the 7400 30-06 has not jammed in the last 200 rounds and is shooting groups that vary between 7/8" and 1 1/8" off a benchrest and 1 3/4" to 2" groups offhand - using 180-gr. Federal Solid Base rounds.
Speer Hot Core 165-gr. were slightly more accurate and shot the smaller groups, with the 180-gr.'s being the largest, but not my a large margin.
Will try some Nosler Ballistic Tips and AccuBonds next.
Steve
P.S. Groups definitely opened up when the barrel's hot, but no accuracy problems in firing a quick 4-round magazine from a cold barrel, as in the worst case hunting situation.
Glad to hear about your experiences! May well end up with a pump myself, probably similar in the accuracy department but without sensitivity to loads and legal to hunt with in my state.
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Trust is earned, not... GIVEN away. - Worf
In my neck of the woods (New York's Adirondack mountains), they are very common in rifle and carbine forms. Many of my hunting partners use them effectively. They'll never outshoot my model 700 .270, but they'll definitely bring home the venison. The pumps are big up here too!
I have a M742 in .308 that I got about 1959. The 7400 is just a later version of the same rifle. My 742 has probably had ten thousand rounds through it, as when I was in college, one of my roommates was out at Fort Riley and he brought home a grocery sack full of 7.62 Nato ammo each friday.
That gun was not really built to take that kind of shooting. Eventually it broke the extractor and I had to have it gone through.
I also would like to know how you bedded the stock and action on that rifle, since the stock bolts to the back of the action the same as a shotgun.......?
